John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Cuts Holdings in Novartis AG $NVS

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lowered its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 0.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 137,407 shares of the company’s stock after selling 716 shares during the quarter. Novartis comprises 2.5% of John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $16,628,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NVS. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Novartis during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Tsfg LLC boosted its position in Novartis by 366.0% during the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. GFG Capital LLC bought a new stake in Novartis during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Barrett & Company Inc. bought a new stake in Novartis during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC boosted its position in Novartis by 66.0% during the second quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $118.00 price target (down previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $120.33.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $131.46 on Friday. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $96.06 and a fifty-two week high of $133.55. The stock has a market cap of $277.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.13, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.58.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.04. Novartis had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 41.08%. The business had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.97 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Profile

Novartis AG engages in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of healthcare products in Switzerland and internationally. The company offers prescription medicines for patients and physicians. It focuses on therapeutic areas, such as cardiovascular, renal and metabolic, immunology, neuroscience, and oncology, as well as ophthalmology and hematology.